Friday, January 30, 2015

How To Avoid a Fumble With Your Brand's Super Bowl Social Media Engagement

Every year, brands roll out the big social media guns on Super Bowl Sunday. And every year, a brand or two get a touchdown, most brands are largely ignored, and some end up investing time and effort in poorly conceived strategies that give those brands a notch in the "Loss" column.

This post may be too late, since brands that intend to engage in "real-time marketing" (RTM) this Sunday have been preparing for months. In some respects, even before the kickoff or the first Super Bowl tweet, the die is already cast--the libraries of tweets, posts and images are all awaiting the right moment to be "spontaneously" broadcast. There's no turning back now, but if there is a shred of chance I might positively impact some brands' plans and help them to avoid a big, messy, public misstep this Sunday, I would like to try to help.

Below are ten tips to help your brand prevent a fumble. I hope you will find all of the tips to be worthwhile, but if I was going to give just one tip, it would
be this: Don't do RTM during the Super Bowl. I know, I know--every brand wants to be
Oreo (whose "dunk in the dark" post has become the gold standard of RTM) or
Arby's (whose Pharrell's hat tweet "won" the Grammys), but the fact is
that RTM remains a risky tactic. Brands attempting to hijack consumer
conversation about the Super Bowl should not be surprised if their customers
resent the advertising-like intrusion.

If your strategy for Super Bowl tweeting and posting is designed to change consumers' perception or purchase intent, go for it, but if all you intend to do is measure RTs and likes, then your strategy may be offsides before the snap. So, if your brand absolutely must tweet and post during
the Super Bowl, here are ten tips to help it improve engagement and minimize the
risks:

During the event, talk with people. Don't just broadcast to
them. Listen--really listen. Don't just make "engaging in their
conversation" a euphemism for spam; be real about it.

I know you want to get noticed and have your brand appear in the Twitter
searches consumers will be using during the game, but avoid inserting consumers'
hashtags into your branded posts. Don't be Super spammy during the Super
Bowl.

During the event, if you have nothing pertinent to say, shut up. Don't tweet
just because you want impressions. Be relevant or be quiet.

Even though spontaneity matters, have multiple eyes on your Super Bowl
tweets. Don't inadvertently embarrass the brand because one community manager
fails to realize they are posting something that others may consider offensive
or insensitive. Make it a real-time team effort!

Don't tweet both personally and for your brand during Super Bowl. Focus--if
you're working, then dedicate your full attention to the professional task at
hand. Moreover, avoid the mistake of tweeting to the wrong account, a mistake
that has cost more than a handful of social media marketers their jobs.

Don't pre-schedule posts. A lot can happen during the Super Bowl, both on and off the field. Don't get caught posting tone-deaf tweets and posts that do not reflect and align to what is happening at the University of Phoenix Stadium or the world at large in the moment.

Your Super Sunday social strategies should be as much about preventing problems as they are about promoting the brand. If you are not as prepared to deal with potential backlash as you are with going viral, then get prepared fast. Don't be stumbling in a critical moment trying to figure out your brand's tone for backpeddling in the event one of your posts or tweets annoys a number of your prospects and customers.

All of these tips can be summed up in this way: Remember that consumers'
social conversations are not a marketing channel, no matter what your CMO
thinks. You wouldn't interrupt two strangers watching a game in a sport bar to yell,
"Hey, our brand is really funny and you should eat our burgers!" Approach your
RTM with the same respect for others' conversations that you would in any
real-life social situation, and your brand will minimize the risks and avoid
mistakes.

On Monday, I believe we will be talking as much about the RTM failures and
embarrassments as the successes. Follow these tips, and your brand is more
likely to be among the latter than the former.

About Experience: The Blog

The world is changing rapidly, both for consumers and brands. Consumers are more empowered than ever before and traditional business models are under attack.

In an increasingly social, mobile and real-time world, brands are created not by the messages they broadcast but by the experiences they offer--ones that create empathy, build trust, earn loyalty, spur Word of Mouth, encourage collaboration, and provide ever greater value to customers in innovative ways. On this blog, we explore how brands are built and business improved via Customer Experience Management, purposeful corporate culture, social and mobile business strategy and collaborative economy models.

You are welcome to participate, criticize, praise, critique, expand, or correct the information and opinions found on this blog. Spam, off-topic, or crude comments will be deleted, but all others are welcome.

About the Author

I am Augie Ray, Research Director covering customer experience at Gartner. I conduct and publish research and advise Fortune 500 clients on the value, process, measurement and tools of customer experience. This includes topics such as Voice of the Customer (VoC), personas, customer journey maps, CX governance, and customer experiences metrics that are leading metrics of brand success.

Previously, I was Director of Global Voice of Customer Strategy for a Fortune 100 financial service company. My background includes more than 20 years of experience in digital, brand, customer experience and social media.

In the past, I led social business at USAA, a firm recognized for its innovative use of communities and social customer care within the financial service industry. I also consulted and published analysis as a Forrester analyst covering digital marketing and social media. In addition, I led a diverse $9 million agency team with specialties in digital development, digital experiential marketing and community strategy.

The future will bring a great deal of innovation that offers opportunities to organizations that are agile and willing to cannibalize their own business models (but it will severely challenge those organizations that cannot.)

The views expressed on this website/blog are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.